My remarks
today will briefly summarize the many activities/issues facing the faculty at
East Carolina University.

II.Budget  As you are
all aware, the budget has everyone buzzing; but the manner in which our
administration is handling and informing the faculty is commendable.As you heard yesterday, the administrative
team consisting of the Chancellor, Vice Chancellor for Finance (Dr. Niswander),
the Provost, Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences, and
respective Deans are meeting for budget forums with each individual
college.I have been asked to attend
each of the forums and am keeping notes on the questions/concerns from the
faculty in each of the forums.In the
three forums that have been held, concerns and questions have been unit
specific, but common in the theme including questions about 1) fixed-term
faculty seniority and loss of positions (in the event that fixed-term faculty
are not rehired), 2) issues surrounding funding model and affects on class
size, 3) furloughs, 4) cuts or duplication of programs and relationship to
preservation or expansion of existing degree programs.

I applaud the
administration in taking valuable time to meet and provide the faculty with
budget information, as it unfolds, and how the university will plan for budget
cuts.

I also want
to publically thank the Chancellor for involving two of our standing university
academic committees in this process  the University Budget Committee and the
Educational Policies and Planning Committee (commonly known as EPPC) in
planning and communicating to faculty about this current budget situation. EPPC
has been charged by the Chancellor to assist in defining the criteria for
potential program prioritization (including, but not limited to  consolidation
criteria, and criteria for elimination and curtailment of programs).

The
Chancellor, Provost, in addition to the other members of the Executive Council
have consented to this faculty infusion and shared governance approach and have
been transparent in their communication with the faculty from the beginning
regarding this budget dilemma.

So, I see
three primary areas for faculty involvement in this budget situation 

a)Educating
the faculty on the current budget and management of such and how the budget
will be affected depending on the NC State budget outcomes and affects to UNC,
ECU, and to our academic programs. Also this approach will allow the faculty to
understand decisions of the Deans, Vice Chancellors and Chancellor.

b)Allowing
faculty to have a role in determining criteria for program prioritization and
budget management through various committees. This does not exist in this
manner in all UNC universities.

c)Need
to tell our story  General Public needs to better informed
about the many roles of faculty and of the excellence of the faculty we have at
East Carolina University. I would like to execute a campaign to obtain as many
stories as possible on faculty that showcase the scholarship of the discipline,
the intricacies of the curriculum (including undergraduate, graduate, and
doctoral levels), relationship of these areas to
research and creative activities and to service for the community and beyond.We need profiles that demonstrate the
excellence and commitment of individual faculty across our many degree
programs.

III.Faculty Manual
-We continue to plug along with this
endeavor.As I stated in my remarks in
November, the Faculty Senate and its committees are truly scrutinizing each
section and are thoughtfully considering all contemporary issues during this
review. 82 of 131 have been and we still have two months left in the semester. As
a example, as we were discussing a section on Weapons policy, one of the
senators raised a question about when a faculty member may be on an underwater
archeology mission on a shipwreck and uncovers a cannon or cannonball, would
this be considered possession of a weapon. Once we found the reference to the
statue, we determined that this would not be in violation of this policy! A
little humor is always helpful in a faculty senate meeting.

The majority
of the faculty manual will be completed by April, however, there are a few
sections that may be under discussion and may delay completion under the fall.
Issues surrounding personnel policies (i.e. annual report) faculty constitution,
and appellate committee procedures may
be delayed pending further discussion on professional ethics and updated
committee membership and charges. These pending sections, however, have been
under discussion but further research and vetting is needed in these areas. However,
anything is possible and there could be a possibility for completion pending
these discussions.

I have an
updated matrix for Mr. Brody, Mr. Grezchan, and
Chancellor Ballard. Mr. Brody, in the event that we have not completed the
manual when you rotate off the Board, we will invite you back for our
celebration when it is completed!

IV.Other activities - Faculty
are busy with many endeavors, in addition to their primary roles in teaching,
engaging in research and mentoring students in research, and other scholarship
activities, and clinical services  with campus priorities including SACS
reaffirmation, developing and establishing standards and process of review for
online teaching, in determining Key Performance Indicators that define and
measure outcomes for the university strategic plan.

V.Gratitude - I end with an expression of
gratitude for this great university and for all the players, administrative,
faculty, staff, and students, who make ECU the best university. We are
fortunate to have senior administration that truly value shared governance and
the roles of the faculty in our many initiatives. We are also fortunate to have
such an excellent faculty who are dedicating additional time and work into the
revision of the Faculty Manual. We will have the best manual in the system when
we are finished. Also, thanks to the BOT for your support as
well, especially in recognizing the work that has been devoted to the revision
and reorganization of the Faculty Manual.